One More Ballet!

Tap Dancer :)

Dentist Pictures

I feel like......

....I am constantly playing catch up with this blog! I have been terrible at keeping it up, but wanted to post what has been happening around here.

Well, for starters, Kara is not in preschool, don't let the pictures fool you. We gave it a go, and it just didn't work out. We just felt like she wasn't ready, so we will try again in January.

Kara had her 3rd birthday, and it was all "Jellyfish!" She LOVES jellyfish, and the color yellow, as well as The Little Mermaid! So she dressed up like the little mermaid, and had a great little party. I made some "jellyfish" out of pasta and hot dogs for the kids, and they just had a great time. All the grandparents were here to help her celebrate, which is always so special.

Kara had her three year check up, and did great! She is in the 30th percentile for height, can't imagine why, and 80th percentile for weight. She is our little bear! Kara also went to the dentist for the first time, and LOVED it. We drive by there on our way to the gym on a regular basis, and she points it out every time.

We had success potty training over my Thanksgiving break! I LOVE the fact that I don't have to change diapers anymore, but I have to admit, I am a bit sad that she is getting so big! Where does the time go.....

Kara is becoming more and more independent, and Brian and I love listening to her play with her dolls and such. She is so imaginative, and creative, and we just eat it up! She loves to play with her Buzz and Woody dolls, Barbie, her kitchen, and she is enjoying dress up. She loves to do things "By myself" as she will inform you.

Kara has officially started tap and ballet dance class at Studio A in Pleasant Hill. Today was her first class, and she did GREAT! She really had a great time, and I just LOVED watching her!!! It really brought me back to all the dance classes that I took growing up. She was so adorable doing her tap, and ballet. She listened really well to the teacher, and I think she is going to just love to go every Saturday, even if it is at 8:15 in the morning. The sacrifices we make as parents are SOOOOOO worth it.

We are looking forward to the holiday!!! Kara loves "Christmas time" as she has been calling it. She loves looking at all of the lights on houses, and CANNOT wait to visit with Santa. I am really looking forward to Christmas this year, she is really understanding the concept. We have an Elf that has come to visit us, Dipperdo, yes that is the name she picked, and she looks for him every morning to see where he has landed. She talks to Dip, and tells him the things that she wants so he can report back to Santa! Loving the holidays!!!! Tomorrow Kara and I will go see "The North Pole Revue" at the Dean Lesher Center in Walnut Creek. I am looking forward to this Mommy/Daughter date, and I know she is going to just love it!

Preschool 2!

Preschool!

I can't believe it, but our little girl has started school! Kara has started preschool at a great little montessori in Martinez. We look forward to hearing all about her day and adventures when we pick her up. She seems to really enjoy it there, which makes us both very happy. Here are pictures of her first day! Yes, I made her pose - total mom move!

Ocean Video 2

Ocean Video

San Diego 6

San Diego 5

Our Little Photographer

We gave Kara the camera to try and take some pictures. I think she might be the next Ansel Adams, what do you think?

San Diego 4

San Diego 3

San Diego 2

SO, these are just SOME of the pictures that I will be posting. I have yet to upload Grandpas pics to our computer.

San Diego

This summer we took a vacation to San Diego with the Dobrzensky's!!!! It was amazing!! Grandpa and Gramma rented a condo that was in Mission Beach. We were steps from Mission Bay, and the Ocean. We first drove down to Pismo Beach, and the following day, we left as a caravan to San Diego. Kara did so well on the trip down, even on a Saturday there is nasty traffic in L.A. - GROSS!

The first place we went was the bay side, and Kara had a great time. The water was cool, but that never phases the kids... She loved digging in the sand, and playing in the water!! Uncle Paul came down on Sunday, and we all had a blast.

The San Diego Zoo is AMAZING!!! We saw so many animals, and walked all over. I could not believe how big the zoo was. The panda's were adorable, and I loved the polar bear. Kara LOVED the elephants - of course, and in general she had a blast at the zoo. We took her to the petting zoo, and she really enjoyed petting the goats, and trying to force feed them. The zoo was wonderful, and I have never been to a place quite like it!

While down here, we also toured an aircraft carrier. It was really neat, I loved the airplanes, as did Kara. They had different cockpits that you could sit in, and Kara had a ball doing this. She Loved "flying" the different planes.

Right down the street from where we were staying was a small like amusement park called "Belmont Park." They had merrie-go-rounds, and little kiddie rides and such. We had a great time here, and Kara really enjoyed all the different rides.

The most fun that we had in San Diego, I think, was going to the beach! Kara LOVED the ocean, playing in the waves, and making sand castles. She really enjoyed "jumping" over the waves. Brian and I loved watching her in the water, and were so proud at how brave she was. She was just too cute!

All in all we had a wonderful vacation! We look forward to more Dobrzensky Family Vacations - kind of cool, we are the DFV squared family!!! LOL!!!

Pismo Beach

Brian has been working so much this summer, taking over shifts, etc... that Kara and I decided to take a trip down to Grandpa and Grammas house for a weekend visit. We had a blast, we went to the beach, went swimming, and Gramma and Grandpa took Kara to the barn to feed the animals. It was a quick visit but memorable and fun none the less. We will be heading out this Friday for some family time in San Diego. This will be my first trip to San Diego, and I am sooooo looking forward to this vacation. For some reason it is not allowing me to post pictures right now. I will try again tonight!!!

Catching Up....

I posted a while ago that I would try to do a blog a day - FAIL! I have not been so good at keeping up lately. Life has just been so busy!!! I thought I would just jot a few things down that have been happening around here, now that I have a moment.

Potty Training - NOT GOING HOW I THOUGHT IT WOULD. Wow, I had such great ideas about potty training before I tried it out! I thought it would take about a week of staying at home, and just taking Kara to the bathroom every 30 minutes. WRONG! We tried only for one day, and she went on the floor both times - no big deal to me, but wow was she upset! I would have gone for more days, but we had so many things planned. In my head the process went like this:
1. Stay home for a week and potty train
2. Put Kara in big girl underwear
3. Take her to the toilet every 30 minutes
4. Do this religiously for a week
5. End Result - POTTY TRAINED TODDLER

HAHAHAHAHA!!! Oh what the things you learn when you have a toddler. I really want to have her somewhat trained before I head back to school, we'll see.

My parents came for a visit this summer, as did my sister Kelly. I loved having them all here, however, just makes me miss them that much more when they leave. I wish we all lived closer together!!!!! I miss having my family around, that's for sure! We had a nice visit, as always, and of course we look forward to when we can see one another again. I don't know that I can wait until next summer for the DFV in Hawaii..... seems too far away!

Kara and I are planning a trip down to visit Brian's parents at the end of July. Brian is working so much this summer, and I thought it would be a nice little "get away." I look forward to seeing them, as does Kara! We are so lucky because right after that little visit, we will all be headed out to San Diego!!! Carol and Michael got a condo down in San Diego for the family for a week!!! We all look forward to spending time together, going to the beach, and hopefully the amazing ZOO!!!

I have been busy with play groups this summer, day trips with Kara, and just relaxing! We joined our local YMCA, and I have been loving getting some exercise in whenever possible. Kara is doing well going to the daycare they have there, which gives me good feelings for when she starts pre-school in August. Kara is quite the swimmer as well! WOW what a fish we have on our hands. She jumps in, and swims, all by herself. She does not like me to hold her in the water, as she wants to "Do it myself." SO independent - I love it!

Brian and I are hoping to take Kara camping sometime soon. She talks about it often - not sure where she picked it up from, but it does sound like it could be a fun thing to do with her! I love building family memories, and now that she is getting older, Brian and I need to start doing a bit more of it! I have such fond memories of my own family camping at Yogi Bear campground as a kid, and would love to build some things like that for Kara! I love being a mommy SO much! I know Brian loves being a Daddy just as much too!!! This stage of life is a blast, but boy is it all going just a tad bit fast for me. I can't believe that our little girl will be starting preschool in August.

Easter 2011

I know these are all out of order, but clearly I did not stick to my "blog a day" plan..... I am just going to put up a few of each little thing we have done, and then I will try and catch up for our summer activities!

Dressed to Impress!!!!